Daryl’s Back Pages
From the perspective and pen of California Newspaper Publishers Association Gold Medal winning journalist and writer Daryl Fisher, join us as Daryl talks positively about family, friends and the interesting people and places that have shaped his life. He does so with a gentle hand and a quirky sense of humor, drawing on the simple, joy-filled experiences of everyday living. He is interested in personal snapshots, not grand panoramas, although he’s not shy about trying to pass along a few insights into the human condition whenever the opportunity presents itself. Fitting into your busy day, lighthearted views of life around 5 minutes each.
Daryl’s Back Pages
It Really is a Wonderful Life
Join us for another episode of Daryl’s Back Pages, “It Really is a Wonderful Life”. Podcasts with thought-provoking insights about life in around 5 minutes.
Here’s a preview:
"Clarence, George’s guardian angel, who is desperately in need of acquiring his wings, grants George his wish and we begin to see just what a world without George Bailey would have really been like."
Listen to all episodes on your favorite podcast platform or visit our website at https://darylsbackpages.com
It Really is a Wonderful Life
One of the things I most enjoy about the Christmas season is that I get to watch Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” at least two or three times on television.
For those of you who haven’t seen it in awhile, it’s an old RKO movie made way back in the 1940s starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a dreamer who desperately wants to get out of tiny Bedford Falls, USA, and make a better and more exciting life for himself; Donna Reed as his gorgeous wife, Mary, who loves small-town life and wants to raise a family in that idyllic atmosphere; Thomas Mitchell, George’s bumbling but sweet brother-in-law, Uncle Billy; and Lionel Barrymore as the evil Mr. Potter, the richest and the meanest man in town.
The fine supporting cast is especially endearing, too, including Ernie the cab driver and Bert the policeman (the original Ernie and Bert), Mr. Gower, the ancient druggist, and of course, Clarence, George’s much needed guardian angel, A.S.C. (Angel Second Class).
As the movie fades in (the black and white version is by far the best), we see a young George Bailey saving the life of his even younger brother, Harry, who has accidentally fallen into an icy pond while playing with his friends. And this turns out to be just the first of numerous people and moments in time which are directly affected by the life of George Bailey.
As George grows older, he also keeps Mr. Gower from accidentally giving one of his customers a deadly prescription of drugs; he gives the money he had saved for his own college education to his brother and sends him off to the university he himself had long dreamed of attending; and he reluctantly takes over the leadership of the family business, an old savings and loan company which never makes much money, but allows many of the citizens of Bedford Falls to live in decent homes which they can someday hope to actually own themselves.
So, poor George Bailey never gets the opportunity to fulfill any of his most cherished dreams. He never gets to attend college; he never becomes a famous architect who travels all over the world constructing airports and grand buildings; and he never makes the kind of money which would allow him the freedom to leave tiny Bedford Falls once and for all.
What George Bailey does end up doing, however, is marrying pretty Mary Hatcher, a hometown girl who has been crazy about him ever since she can remember, and it isn’t long before they are raising a large family in the drafty old Grandville house. Now, how anyone in their right mind can possibly consider a lifetime with Mary (I have always had this crush on Donna Reed) as anything less than the crowning achievement of one’s life is beyond me, but that is where the plot finds George as Christmas Eve, 1945 arrives.
Uncle Billy has somehow misplaced (lost) $8,000 of the savings and loan assets and with Mr. Potter’s diabolical help, it looks like George is going to end up broke and in jail, his life and reputation shot. And in a moment of tearful regret that his life has been so meaningless, he wishes out loud that he had never been born.
Clarence, George’s guardian angel, who is desperately in need of acquiring his wings, grants George his wish and we begin to see just what a world without George Bailey would have really been like. Among other things, his brother would have drown in that pond at the age of nine, because George would not have been there to save him; Mr. Gower, the druggist, would have accidentally killed one of his best customers; most of the nice citizens of Bedford Falls would have been forced to live in the slums of Pottersville instead of beautiful Bailey Park; and although I personally find this one tough to swallow, Mary (Donna Reed) would have ended up an old maid working in the little town library.
But as can only happen in a Frank Capra movie, George comes to his senses, and the movie ends with him happy and very appreciative to be back among the living in general and his family in particular. Plus, evil Mr. Potter is thwarted in his greedy efforts to gain control of the Bailey Savings and Loan and everyone in town ends up over at George’s house showering him with money and singing Auld Lang Syne. Oh, and Clarence also finally gets his wings (he’s been trying for 200 years) and he leaves behind a note to George explaining that “No man is a failure who has friends.”
No matter how many times I have watched this movie (usually late at night with the Christmas tree lights glowing), I never seem to tire of being reminded that none of us get it all, and that all good people must return to their burdens. But maybe even more important than that is the basic theme of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, that it really is great to be alive and that every single life makes a huge difference, often in ways we don’t even know or understand, and that if we live our lives with kindness and compassion for others, sooner or later we all get to spend a moment or two doing the Charleston with Donna Reed.
